Essential oil composition of terminal branches, cones and roots of Tetraclinis articulata from Tunisia.

The volatiles obtained separately from the terminal branches (woody and non-woody), cones and roots of Tetraclinis articulata gathered from the area of Zaghouan (Tunisia) have been analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Remarkable differences were found between the constituent percentages of the different studied organs. The main components in the non-woody branches volatile oil were naphtalen (6.6%), Z-muurolene (29.0%) while Camphene (43.2%), Z-beta-ocimene (11.7%), nonanol (5.3%) and a non identified compound (12%) were the main components in the wood branches volatile concentrate. In the cones oil, the most important compounds found were trans-pinacarveol (6.1%), p-cymene-8-ol (10.4%), fenchyl acetate (5.1%), beta-phellandrene (8.1%) and carvone (5.3%). The major constituent in the oil of roots was found to be Camphene (70.2%). A comparison of these data with previous results reported in the literature showed surprising differences.